The Useless Machine 2.0

A box with one job: when you flip its switch on, a little arm comes out and flips it right back off. Then it goes back inside like nothing happened. If you’ve ever wanted to watch a machine lose an argument with itself, this is that, in a tidy 110 x 80 x 50mm footprint (not counting the switch).

What I like is how it’s put together. The box is 3mm poplar laser ply that interlocks with no glue and no screws, and a PCB takes care of the wiring so you aren’t chasing a tangle of loose wires. You choose your own level of involvement: a kit that needs soldering, a kit that doesn’t, or one that arrives fully assembled. That makes it easy to hand to a friend who has never held an iron, or to keep the soldering version for yourself.

It’s a natural white-elephant gift, since everyone at the table understands the joke in about two seconds, and it will look good next to a monitor. Plan ahead on one thing: it takes 2 AAA batteries and they aren’t included, so a gift wrapped without them will just sit there, silent and smug. And since the whole show is a single repeated gesture, what keeps it on a desk is the wooden craftsmanship rather than any new tricks.